Hans News Service Bhubaneswar

TheEconomic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police have arrested two more persons for their alleged involvement in a Rs 9.6 crore bank fraud case, officials said on Friday. With the fresh apprehensions, a total of six persons have been arrested by the police so far.

The fresh arrests were made in Chhattisgarh capital Raipur on Thursday, and the accused, identified as Surjit Roy and Sameer Srivastav, were brought to Odisha on transit remand on Friday, an officer of the EOW said.

The arrests were made on the basis of a police case registered by the Chief Manager of the Baripada branch of a PSU bank.

According to the police, the fraudsters withdrew the amount from the bank account of the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) trust, Mayurbhanj, by producing forged cheques, the official said. Of the illegally transferred amount, Rs 5.04 crore was blocked and Rs 13.56 lakh lying in 33 accounts have been frozen, he said.

Roy and Srivastav were found to be the proprietors/signatory authorities of Roy Associates and SS Traders, respectively. A total of Rs 45.19 lakh was transferred to the bank account of Roy’s firm, while Rs 39.19 lakh was transferred to the account of Srivastav’s company.

During the investigation, the EOW found that the two arrested persons are members of a larger gang with a complex network spread across Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha, officials said. After their arrest, EOW got some important clues about the entire gang.

They have been indulging in such scams for the last four years, they said.

Earlier, four accused persons, identified as Pomesh Tembhare, Ghanshyam Ahuja, Ajmir Mondal and Brajesh Mishra, were arrested in connection with the fraud case.